Youth Council Giving Back in Clarion County

Aly Delp

Aly Delp

Published January 24, 2018 5:45 am
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CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Clarion County Youth Council students from all seven Clarion County school districts worked together and gathered more than 2,000 items of food, toys, clothing, and other articles for families and individuals in need in the county and beyond between October and December of this year.

The youth council students kicked off the year with projects that were related to their focus for this year: hunger and poverty in Clarion County (and beyond).

“Instead of holding a one-day event, the group felt it would be more successful to do similar projects across the county instead,” said Amanda Cserr, CCYC Chairwoman.

From local food pantries to hurricane disaster relief, students worked at completing these projects successfully to help those in need.

AC Valley’s drive collected items to fill stockings with items such as CDs, DVDs, lip balm, playing cards, wash clothes, and shelf-stable snacks for 114 soldiers through an organization called Boatie’s Boxes.

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Students within Clarion Area School District held a drive that collected enough cleaning supplies to fill 15 cleaning buckets (valued around $65 each) to send to those who were affected by the hurricanes in the southern United States this year.

Clarion-Limestone students collected approximately 115 food items for Community Action, Inc.’s food pantry and filled six boxes for operation Christmas shoebox, a service that provides hygiene items and toys for children in need and sends them to orphanages across the US.

Keystone students helped with a Christmas food drive and filled five large containers of food for The Caring Cupboard in Knox.

North Clarion students organized a “Cold Weather Drive” which collected socks, hats, mittens, and gently used coats. Between the elementary and high schools, over 1,000 items were collected. The group has donated some of the items to SAFE of Clarion, and the remaining items will be sent to other organizations within the county.

Students within Union School District partnered with the Dollar General store in Rimersburg and collected over 300 food items for the Caring Cupboard food ministry out of the Rimersburg Methodist Church. The food items were packaged into weekend snacks for children in need.

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Redbank Valley School District students collected nearly two large boxes of toys for four local families in need during Christmas time.

During its December 6 meeting in Clarion, youth council students from across the county learned about different agencies that help families who are in need and participated in two poverty simulation activities. The activities were geared towards helping the students better understand how poverty can affect a family’s decisions and the hardships they often face when forced to go without food.

The group is now working toward establishing a Poverty Awareness Week in April 2018, to complete more poverty awareness projects, and to work at helping those who are among the most vulnerable in our communities.

“Students from across the county are letting their schools and communities know ‘Our Voice Counts,’ and you can help them by recognizing their actions and supporting their efforts in your own community,” said Cserr.

Those who would like to know more about the program can contact Amanda Cserr at 814-223-1590.

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